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She has no problem with the going part  LOL. She's always up for a trip somewhere. She just doesn't like the part about booking now for a cruise 54 weeks from now as she says something might come up. But it didn't take much convincing ?

Well I went from not cruising for 8 years Jan 2011 to booking a cruise in Dec for Jan 2019. Than I put a deposit down on 1/9 for a cruise in Aug 2019 & today I put a deposit down for one in Feb 2020. My wife asked was I getting carried away all of the sudden LOL but she didn't say no.
Upcoming cruises
Allure          1/27/2019
Ovation       8/9/2019
Adventure   2/1/2020
Guess I'll just work on planning excursions ect.. for the last 2 & hold off booking anything else for now. Thanks to Michelle - MEI Travel.
 

We used to go on one 'nice' vacation every year and a half (I e. Cruise or Disney).  Then we snuck in a cruise last Aug on Mariner and got addicted.  We currently have 5 cruises booked between now and March 2021.

No. Just do it when you are onboard. It should be on the TV in your stateroom that where we completed the form.

54 weeks. Luxury!
I've got a bit less than 81 weeks until the cruise I booked this past Monday!

We have been back from the cruise for a week and I realize that I failed at a "live" blog but I didn't have the internet package so here it goes!
The Trip Down
We loaded up the SUV and headed out of Panama City before 9 A.M to head to Ft. Lauderdale. We were making excellent time and then right before we arrived things changed. Towards the end of the turnpike the vehicle in front us swerved at the last minute and revealed a rather large tire which made contact with our vehicle. Our vehicle was damaged but safe to drive. This is an example of why you should arrive in your port area the night before your cruise. If we were driving in on the day of our cruise we may have missed our cruise.
Pre-Cruise Hotel
We stayed at the Hyatt Place (17th Street Convention Center). The hotel was clean and at 8,000 Hyatt points per night was an excellent value. Parking is $7 per night unless you're a Globalist member. The hotel offers cruise parking for $7 per night. The Hyatt also operates a shuttle service that charges $7 per person each way you use the service. We decided that since our cruise was returning on Sunday we would park in the Port Everglades Midport Parking Garage to save time. Parking is $15 per day but you don't have to use a shuttle which ended up saving my family money.
Embarkation
Royal Caribbean had emailed us and told us that boarding would not start until 12:30 due to a USCG inspection. Thanks to Matt's recommendation and my good friend Brandon (who sailed with us) we arrived at the port and were on board at 11:10. The total curb to ship time including dropping off luggage, parking in the garage, and getting checked in was less than 20 minutes. 
THE CRUISE
Once we got on the cruise all the stress faded away. Adventure is in great shape. Our stateroom was 6665 and I feel like it had been updated which was nice. During the cruise our main hangout spot was the Blue Moon lounge on deck 14.  The lounge offered excellent views and fun dance parties at night. Cafe Promenade was also a frequently visited spot. The dining experience was excellent on Adventure. We ate dinner in the MDR 6 of the 8 nights on our cruise. Our waiter Raj was excellent and the meals were top notch. There was only one appetizer during the cruise that I didn't care for. It was the Asian Pork Tacos. All the steaks I ordered were cooked perfectly, the prime rib was excellent, and lobster on night 7 was the best dinner. The Windjammer was excellent but I wish it was open past 9 P.M. The bar service was always fast in the 'Jammer as we would call it. The entertainment was excellent. We enjoyed the theater productions and the ice skating show. The Farewell Show was top notch. We really enjoyed the activities from cruising on a mid-sized ship. We used the slides (which are fast but a bit rough), Flowrider, played basketball, and went ice skating.
LABADEE
LaBadee was excellent and the weather was great. We had much more fun here than at CocoCay in 2015. We enjoyed the Dragon's Breath Flight Line. I highly recommend that excursion. Its super smooth and you always feel safe. The view of the ship from the launch is amazing. We walked a few trails around LaBadee and settled at Adrenaline Beach. The beach is indeed rocky but we had a good time. We then got our LaBadoozie in souvenir cup and chilled in the hammocks. I fell getting into the hammock and that generated a lot of laughs at my expense which was actually quite funny. 
PUERTO RICO
We arrived into Puerto Rico around 12:30 P.M so we enjoyed the sail into port. Sailing past El Morro during the daytime and taking in the majesty of the fort and Old San Juan was one of the best moments of the cruise. We toured Old San Juan with my friend Brandon's aunt who lives in Puerto Rico and showed us all the spots. We walked a lot that day and were very tired when we made it back the ship in the evening.
ST MAARTEN
We had the SeaTrek helmet diving excursion booked and it was the most anticipated part of our cruise. However, early in the morning our stateroom telephone rang and we were informed that the excursion was cancelled even though the weather was fine. It was quite disappointing. In the afternoon we decided to take the water taxi to downtown Philipsburg. It was a great ride for $3. The water is beautiful in St. Maarten. We then took a 3 hour driving tour for $25 per person to tour the island. We asked to be dropped off at Maho Beach and we ate lunch at the Sunset Bar and Grill and saw a lot of small planes and one large plane land. The food is excellent at the Sunset Bar and Grill and you should go there! The bathrooms aren't free to use though. After visiting Maho Beach we toured the French side of the island. I wasn't impressed with St. Maarten/St Martin as a whole. The island wasn't very clean and reminded me to much of hurricane damage. 
ST KITTS AND NEVIS
St. Kitts and Nevis was the best stop on our cruise and we are dying to go back! We enjoyed the St. Kitts Open Air Adventure tour and its great to see the island as a whole on your first visit. The Romney Manor is beautiful and the Timothy Hill overlook is breathtaking. I think that the next time we visit St. Kitts and Nevis we will rent an ATV and do things at our own pace. The shopping in Port Zante was excellent. We got tons of souvenirs and clothing at the Caribelle Batik and surrounding shops.
OBSERVATIONS
This was the best cruise that we have ever been on.
RCL needs to step up their soda game. There were only 2 reliable locations to get a sufficiently carbonated soda. The Windjammer Bar and the Freestyle machines on the Royal Promenade. The freestyle machines in the Windjammer were always malfunctioning and the bars always had flat sodas. It was very weird.
4 port days in a row will make you tired.
We don't like 2 sea days in a row to end the cruise. The cruise starts to feel over when you leave your last port stop. That feeling lingered through day 7 and 8. One sea day to end the cruise is just about right.
 
So this is my blog. If you have any questions about Adventure of the Seas ask away!
 

Day 3- Sea Day
Had to get up early today as had the all access ship tour at 8am.  Had a quick stop for breakfast in the windjammer.  Saw this cool picture of a watermelon carved with good morning.  

Tatiana was our tour guide and she was awesome. She joked around quite a bit, but was also very informative and answered lots of questions. The tour started in the kitchen galley where they make all the soups and appetizers. 
We then headed to the engine room. The chief engineer was pretty entertaining. Someone asked him what his biggest fear was and he said having to do all access tours lol. 
We then headed to the galley where all the food is stored. It was massive. They have 19 different coolers or freezers for items. I asked about how much their weekly food bill was and he said over $600K. Me being in the restaurant business this part of the tour was interesting. They took us into where they store all the alcohol as well. They said that wasn’t usually included but we were special. Who knows if that was true or not. 
Was interesting to know that Corona is the most popular beer. Guess everyone gets into that Caribbean mode. 
After that it was to the garbage area. It was neat to hear about how they separated everything and what they did with it, but boy did it smell bad. They truly waste nothing. All the food that isn’t eaten gets ground up really fine and dumped to feed the fish. Then it was on to laundry. Probably the coolest part here was seeing the massive machine that dries, irons, and folds everything. Everyone needs one of them at home. 
Then it was on to the bridge. While it was neat to be up there and see the view, I was a little disappointed the captain wasn’t there to talk to us. 
a video was playing of the ship being built. 
I’m not sure why but they wouldn’t let me drive the ship 
Captain Rob and Captain Rick. We had Captain Rick. 
all the plaques from the different ports symphony has been to 
the lookout is looking the wrong direction. Luckily we are in the Caribbean so no icebergs! 
 

She has no problem with the going part  LOL. She's always up for a trip somewhere. She just doesn't like the part about booking now for a cruise 54 weeks from now as she says something might come up. But it didn't take much convincing ?

Never cruised until after I turned 57 and only when suggested by my in-laws. We did Alaska in June and subsequently booked Caribbean a couple weeks ago, Bahamas in March and Bermuda in July. A couple moths ago my spouse said "No more!". After a visit with my father in Florida after the Caribbean cruise we showed my father pictures of our Alaska. He was stationed at Ft. Richardson in Anchorage in 1959-60.  After seeing the pictures it was my wife who told me to look into 2020 return to Alaska!

Correct.

As far as the porters go, the rule of thumb is $1-2 per bag that they haul for you or load into the carts for boarding. When disembarking I tend to tip more than embarking since they're actually lugging your stuff around while guiding you out of the terminal, and often haul it to where you will be getting your ride to the airport or post-cruise hotel. Plus, they have a special line to get through customs more quickly, which is worth whatever tip money I give out all on its own.

Well I went from not cruising for 8 years Jan 2011 to booking a cruise in Dec for Jan 2019. Than I put a deposit down on 1/9 for a cruise in Aug 2019 & today I put a deposit down for one in Feb 2020. My wife asked was I getting carried away all of the sudden LOL but she didn't say no.
Upcoming cruises
Allure          1/27/2019
Ovation       8/9/2019
Adventure   2/1/2020
Guess I'll just work on planning excursions ect.. for the last 2 & hold off booking anything else for now. Thanks to Michelle - MEI Travel.
 

Welcome to a very non-exclusive club of cruise addicts and their indifferent spouses!

One thing I realized I missed last night:
If you need to fly to the port, start checking airfares about 9 months out, when they first become available. When they’re at a price you’re comfortable with, book them. And make sure to fly in at least the day before sail date so you don’t risk getting delayed or having your flight canceled and missing your sailing.
If you use a low-cost carrier like Southwest or Jet Blue, my personal experience is that the fares are lowest when they’re first announced and just get more expensive as the seats fill up; others here have seen differently, so watch them regularly for a bit and be ready to book when you see a price you’re good with. The bigger carriers are more likely to fluctuate; @Lovetocruise2002 and I (and several others since) have done some experimenting by tracking prices every day for our trips, even after booking, and found there seem to be two sweet spots: One around the 90 day mark, the other I believe around 180 days but @Lovetocruise2002 can confirm that.

Most definitely at this mark.  The only exceptions that I have seen to that are March break and Christmas/New Years.  Those two times of the year do not seem to follow that trend.
For March/Spring break, when I look back at my records, the price (for Delta) was actually the lowest at first release.  I might just do that for next spring break and save myself all the stress of watching it rise.

Hi there, @A_perfect_Storm, welcome to the message boards!
I'm not aware of any specific planning timelines like you mention, but here are some general guidelines I think work for any cruise. I'm sure I've missed some things, others here will fill in the gaps
Starting right now Think about making monthly payments towards your cruise balance; this is a great way to spread out the cost over as much time as possible Put a reminder in your calendar for 3 days ahead of your final payment date, and make sure the cruise is paid off then -- if you miss final payment, you lose your cruise! No backsies, no mulligans, no second chances! About 12 months before sailing -- start checking your Cruise Planner for any items you may be interested in purchasing, like shore excursions, internet packages, beverage packages (alcoholic or non), specialty dining, etc. @Matt, who runs the site, is very good about posting in the main blog when new sales start in the Cruise Planner; you can re-check for things each time a new sale / promotion is announced Try to space out your purchases, to spread out the payments and avoid having a painful credit card bill in any one month Know that you can always cancel something you bought, and then re-purchase it, if you find later on that the price has dropped 8-9 months before sailing -- check your passports and make sure they will still be valid for at least 6 months after your cruise ends; if not, get them renewed now so they're in effect for about 6 months prior to sailing Also apply for passports for any family members who don't yet have them; while you can sail with just a drivers license and birth certificate, having a passport is generally better 90 days before sail date You had that reminder fire off and you took care of final payment, right? If not, do it on this day or lose your cruise! Do your online checkin and complete all forms, print your set sail pass 45 days before sail date -- start checking for your eDocuments on the web site (available under the View More Details link for your sailing after you log in) When you have your documents, you can also print your luggage tags 1 week before sail date Get all documents and papers together; passports, set sail passes, luggage tags, etc. If you haven't yet, put a travel alert on all credit cards you expect to use abroad 2+ days before sail date -- get cash for tips and other small expenses, souvenirs if you don't want to use your credit card, etc. 1+ day before sail date -- fly down to the port; never do this the day you sail away!! Hope this helps! The next year and two months is going to be a blast as you prepare and plan and eagerly await your vacation!

1993 more days for me! (Me? counting? Never!)

Well I went from not cruising for 8 years Jan 2011 to booking a cruise in Dec for Jan 2019. Than I put a deposit down on 1/9 for a cruise in Aug 2019 & today I put a deposit down for one in Feb 2020. My wife asked was I getting carried away all of the sudden LOL but she didn't say no.
Upcoming cruises
Allure          1/27/2019
Ovation       8/9/2019
Adventure   2/1/2020
Guess I'll just work on planning excursions ect.. for the last 2 & hold off booking anything else for now. Thanks to Michelle - MEI Travel.
 

I'd like to be retired  LOL but I still spend time planning cruises or at least thinking about it!

No such thing as overzealous when it comes to cruising.  I've got 7 on the calendar now (one of which I need to cancel, but still...).  Got one on sunday, then one in February, april, may, September, and next april.  Keep at it, man.

Yep, this website is DANGEROUS for the wallet. I went 17 years since my last cruise (I was 14) and found these boards and the podcast when I was researching for a May 2019 cruise. Suddenly I also had a November 2018 one booked as well as May 2020, Jan 2021 and Michelle at MEI is going to price out a November 2019 for me tonight or tomorrow.
 
My M.O. is pausing the podcast in the middle of an episode to call my mom and go “.......so I was having some thinky thoughts. What are your feelings on a cruise for X?” My parents love that I plan everything out and reprice regularly which has saved us hundreds and I love that doing so makes me all the more excited and connected with the trip. Works out well for everyone! Now I just have to convince my brother to join us one of these times.....

Join the cruise club.

It can be addicting.  I cruised in late august for the first time in 18 yrs.
Then cruised again in Dec
And now am cruising again in April

Umm...overzealous? No.  There is a very simple explanation.  You just found the RCBlog message boards, that's all.  

I wouldn't say overzealous. You're just enjoying the steady rainfall resupplying the reservoir after a long drought. ?